


And They Were Rimemates

by agentdragon



Category: DragonFable (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Universe, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Drowning, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Roommates, every chapter title is an ice pun, then it turned into angst, this was supposed to be wacky roommate shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22945360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentdragon/pseuds/agentdragon
Summary: oh my god, they were rimemates.(rime is a type of frost, guys. it's funny. I'm funny.)The hero moves in with Aegis in Ravenloss.
Relationships: Hero & Aegis
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	1. Breaking The Ice

**Author's Note:**

> So you know how you can set your hometown as Ravenloss at Aegis's house? Well, I love Aegis, so I took that and ran with it. 
> 
> On another note: Like skorpsion (an excellent writer!), I named my hero Dragon. Cut me some slack, I was eleven. 
> 
> This first chapter is pretty chill (pun intended), but there will be angst in the future. I'm sorry; I don't know how to write anything else.

Despite having expanded greatly while Dragon had been… out of commission, Ravenloss was by no means a sprawling metropolis. But that didn’t mean she enjoyed carrying her four sizable moving boxes through the underground city. It didn’t help that the inn, where she had been residing previously, was all the way on the other side of town. It could have been worse, she supposed. If she’d still been living in Falconreach, she would have needed to carry them to the portal in the dead of night, and then all the way down those stairs, which sounded like a recipe for disaster. Even then, she wouldn’t have asked for help. She was the hero of Lore; she had a reputation to uphold. 

And if upholding that reputation meant awkwardly balancing all her belongings in her arms as she trekked across Ravenloss, then so be it. 

“Dragon! You’re here!” Aegis exclaimed excitedly as she approached. She couldn’t see much over her stack, but he must have been waiting outside of the house for her to arrive. 

“Of course I am,” she said under the strain of the weight. “I said I would be, didn’t I? Wait—I _did_ say that, right? Did I get the date wrong? Because I already checked out of the inn, and I do _not_ want to drag all of my stuff back to—”

“No, no, you got the date right,” Aegis assured her, closing the distance between them as Dragon continued to struggle under her load. “Do you want some help with that?” 

She brushed him off. “I got it. Could you get the door, though?”

He obliged, and Dragon thanked him (though it came out as more of a grunt—she was _really_ starting to feel like she was about to collapse under the weight of these boxes) as she stepped inside—

—and immediately lost her footing on the icy floor. 

Aegis just managed to catch her before she hit the ground, but he wasn’t able to keep the box on top of her stack from sliding off. Both Weaver and Ally cringed as it hit the ground with a thud. 

“Are you alright?” Aegis asked nervously as Dragon steadied herself and placed her three remaining boxes on the ground. “I’m sorry about that; we should probably get a rug or something…”

“I’m fine,” Dragon promised with a reassuring smile. “I don’t think there was anything breakable in that box, anyway.” She had thought ahead and put the one with her plushies on top, just in case of an incident like this one. She looked over at the stairs, then back down at the boxes, and frowned. “I… might have to take you up on that offer to help, though.” 

“Of course!” Aegis smiled and picked up two of the boxes. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“I have a _reputation_ , Aegis.” 

Aegis snorted at that, and Dragon shot him a glare. “I don’t doubt it!” he said defensively, leading her up the stairs. “Anyway, the bedroom is on the left here.” He shouldered the door open and stepped aside to let Dragon enter. 

It was more than a little dusty, and the wooden bookcase against the left wall was rotten beyond repair. The dresser by the window, though, looked like it could be alright with a little TLC, and the metal bed frame was completely functional, if a little tarnished. 

“I had to get a new mattress,” Aegis explained, and yeah, that was going to be her next observation. “The old one was full of spiders.”

“Ew,” Dragon commented, placing her boxes on the bed. “Thanks. Seriously, thanks. I am _so_ glad I didn’t have to deal with that.” 

“You’re very welcome.”

Dragon looked back at Aegis. He had set his boxes down but was still hovering (figuratively and literally) in the doorway, hesitant to enter. 

“Want to help me unpack?” Dragon said. She wasn’t sure why he seemed so… _uncomfortable_. 

“Oh… sure, if you want!” he agreed, with obviously forced enthusiasm that only served to deepen Dragon’s concern. “Where should we start?”

“We can make the bed first. My sheets and stuff are in one of those two boxes.” 

They talked as they worked; first on making the bed, then dusting and sweeping, then carrying the bookcase down the stairs to be thrown away later. Much to Dragon’s relief, Aegis gradually seemed to be loosening up and was starting to act more like himself. By the time they were sorting through Dragon’s various trinkets, they were chatting comfortably about some weird monsters Dragon had recently encountered on some random escort. 

“Uh, Dragon?” he asked out of the blue, interrupting a stretch of rambling. “Is this…?”

Dragon turned her attention from the poster she was hanging to where Aegis was kneeling on the floor. He had opened her box of plushies and was holding one of them up. 

“Oh, hey! Big Aegis found Little Aegis!”

Aegis stared at his plush counterpart. “You have a plushie _me?_ ”

“Yeah! There’s a Tomix in there too, and Riadne, and a bunch of other people you probably don’t know—”

“ _Why?_ ” 

“No clue!” Dragon said cheerfully. “The guy at the store just had them, and I didn’t really bother to ask. Hey, I wonder if his shop is still around—we could talk to him about paying you some merchandising fees or something.” 

Aegis didn’t seem to know how to respond, and yeah, Dragon couldn’t really blame him for that. 

Soon, everything was unpacked. The bed was neatly made (with several extra layers of blankets to ward off the chill), posters were hung, and Dragon’s plushie collection was displayed on the dresser—except for Little Aegis, who was sitting in the place of honor of her bed. Mostly because Dragon wanted to see Big Aegis’s reaction.

“I’m… honored?”

“Good, because I don’t sleep with just _any_ plushie,” Dragon said, and finally got a real laugh out of Aegis. That was something of a relief. As excited as he’d been when they’d first made this plan, Aegis still seemed a little on-edge, perhaps worried that Dragon would get cold feet and back out. Well, her feet were certainly cold, as was the rest of her. And maybe, right now, this place was threatening to bring certain icy memories to the forefront of her mind. 

But seeing her friend laugh sealed it, she thought with a smile. There was no way she was going to leave now.


	2. An Ice-olated Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dragon is having some trouble sleeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can tell I'm new to the whole "posting fanfiction" thing based on how bad I am at summaries.  
> I guess this updates Fridays. I really wanted to post this chapter earlier today, but I had class and rehearsal. Now I am sitting in front of my computer with my wet hair in a towel and my face slathered with a clay mask, because I'll be damned if my skin isn't glowing for my performance tomorrow.  
> ANYWAY, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

There was no daylight cycle in Ravenloss, but they still had night, in a sense. The city’s population was peculiar in many ways, but the constants of life remained the same. Everyone needed to sleep. 

Well, almost everyone. On several occasions, Aegis had become so engrossed in a task indoors that when he decided to venture out of his house, he’d been surprised to find the streets empty and everyone asleep. 

Fortunately, that wasn’t much of a problem anymore, with Dragon’s presence to remind him. It had been six days since she’d moved in, and the two of them had quickly fallen into a routine—as much of a routine as was possible when Dragon was involved, at least. She wasn’t currently handling any issues of a giant-dragon-eating-the-sun magnitude, but there was seldom a quiet moment for the Hero of Lore. Which, Dragon declared, was a good thing. If left without anything to do for too long, she would “go absolutely bonkers,” to use her own words. As a result, she was always taking on whatever random odd-job quest was asked of her—clearing out monster infestations, escorting merchants through dangerous territory, taking down whatever up-and-coming hotshot thought they could be the next Sepulchure. (Aegis had joined Dragon on quests of the latter sort several times. More often than not, the boss was so easy to take down that he almost felt embarrassed on their behalf.) 

Today’s quest had been in Dragesvard, where Aegis would have been more of a hindrance than a help, so he’d stayed home. Dragon had promised to be back before 9:00—though, it had sounded less like an assurance and more like she was trying to bait him into making a bet. Aegis was starting to wish he’d taken that bet when 8:55 rolled around, until Dragon stumbled in three minutes later. 

“Told you I’d be back by nine!” she declared victoriously, completely breathless. 

“I never doubted you,” Aegis said with a smirk, glancing up from his book. “You look terrible.” 

“I do not!” Dragon insisted. At Aegis’s unimpressed look, she sighed. “Okay, so _maybe_ there were more wolves than I expected. _But_ , they’ve all been cleared out now, so _this_ hero—” she gestured to herself— “is going to bed. ‘Night, Aegis.”

Aegis frowned as she started up the stairs. “It’s only nine o’ clock.”  
  


“ _Actually_ , it’s eight fifty-nine,” Dragon said, unable to resist a tiny bit more gloating. “And I’m tired. Goodnight!”

The bedroom door closed, and Aegis huffed out a fond laugh before returning to the book. He’d borrowed it from Riadne when visiting her and Isaac earlier that day, and he could see why she’d insisted he read it. It was a very captivating novel about a young warrior who was struggling to cope with the trauma of being drafted into a war at a young age. The main character, Auburn, was relatable in a way that transcended the unique experiences she went through. 

As enthralling as it was, though, Aegis occasionally found his mind wandering. Specifically, to another hero who had seen more than her share of wars and tribulation. A hero who had always seemed invincible, physically and mentally, until Aegis had sensed her falling from the sky. Until he’d tried to save her from the impact, and she’d nearly broken down as a result.

Aegis knew that wasn’t _entirely_ his fault. Dragon had been under a lot of stress, to put it mildly, with Draco on the cusp of death and the threat of Caitiff looming over everyone’s heads. The ice had just been one more factor to top it off. That didn’t stop Aegis from feeling guilty, though, and it certainly didn’t make him any less worried.

Still, he put those worries aside to be dealt with at a later date and brought his attention back to his reading. He wasn’t sure how long it had been when he reached the heart-wrenching scene in which Auburn discovered that her younger brother was dead. Aegis’s brow creased in sympathy. He could almost feel her pain as if it was his own. The tightness in the chest, the prickle of tears against the eyes, the pounding of a no-longer-existent heart—

Aegis dropped the book with a start. That wasn’t empathy for a fictional character, he realized. That was _Dragon_. He hadn’t sensed it this strongly since the incident with Caitiff—she was in danger!

He didn’t stop to think. He rushed up to her room and burst inside, focus in one hand, shield in the other. Now that he was standing so close to his SoulAlly, he could feel her panic even more acutely—or maybe that was his own. Either way, he had to put it aside and concentrate on the situation at hand. 

Even with all candles and lamps extinguished for the night, Aegis’s own glow provided enough light to see by. Dragon was… still in bed. No one else was in the room but Draco, who was snoozing peacefully in their own little bed. Were it not for the painful tension in Aegis’s heart and lungs—organs he didn’t even _have_ anymore—everything would have seemed normal. 

This… might be a trap. That could very well be some magic dummy in the bed; a golem enchanted to _look_ like Dragon while the real thing had been carried off and was now being hurt, interrogated, _tortured_ —

There was only one way to find out. Aegis cautiously glided over to the bedside, grateful that he didn’t have any footsteps to give him away. He held his shield at the ready, lest the maybe-a-golem attack him. 

Then, she whimpered. 

The sound was so lost, so sad, so un-Dragon-like that it took him off guard. It was only then that he noticed her breathing was erratic. The whimpering grew louder until she was full-on sobbing in her sleep, quietly babbling unintelligible nonsense.

Soon, the crying roused Draco, who was on Dragon’s bed in an instant, barking and nudging her in an attempt to wake her up. It didn’t seem to be working; if anything, the contact seemed to be causing her more distress. Draco whined, then glared up at Aegis. Even though he couldn’t understand draconic, the message was clear: _Stop standing there like a useless idiot and do something!_

“R-right,” Aegis said with an uncertain nod. He banished his shield and hesitantly took her by the shoulder.

The moment he made contact, his cold touch seemed to shock Dragon out of her agitated sleep. Her eyes snapped open and stared unseeingly up at Aegis with wild terror, who instinctively let go and took a step back. Dragon spent a moment getting her breathing under control, gaze flitting around the room. Once she’d taken in her surroundings, she breathed a quiet “oh.” 

Draco was immediately on top of her, nuzzling her like their life depended on it. Dragon half-sighed, half-chuckled, and placed a comforting hand on their back. The two seemed to be having one of their telepathic conversations, and Aegis wasn’t sure if he was imposing. 

After a moment, Dragon noticed him as if for the first time. Her face melted into an embarrassed smile. “Thanks, Aegis.” 

“Of course,” Aegis said quietly. “Are… are you okay?”

She nodded. “It was just a dream; you can put the yo-yo away.” 

Aegis glanced down at his focus, realizing he was still holding it at the ready. “It’s not a yo-yo,” he muttered, unable to muster the appropriate amount of indignation. 

“It’s a yo-yo,” Dragon disagreed. She hesitated before continuing. “I wasn’t… shouting in my sleep or anything, was I?”

“No, just muttering,” Aegis said. “I came up here because I sensed your distress. It seems that being in close proximity causes our bond to be felt more strongly.”

Draco barked, and Dragon gave them a look. “Don’t be mean.” Another bark. “No, I am _not_ telling him that.” 

“Telling me what?” 

“Nothing.” The room was silent for a long moment. Dragon started to say something. Hesitated. Averted her gaze. Aegis soon realized that if he didn’t fill the silence, no one would. 

“Do you need anything?” he asked gently. “Should I let you get back to sleep?” 

“No, I—” Dragon paused, the hesitation painfully evident in her voice. “Can you… stay here?” 

That wasn’t what Aegis had been expecting. He had been intentionally giving Dragon’s room a wide berth, both for purposes of privacy and to prevent it from getting too cold. “Are you sure?”

“You don’t have to,” she said hastily. “It’s fine; I’ll be fine.” 

“No, no, I… I can stay,” Aegis said, and Dragon’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

As quickly as it had left, the tension returned. “No,” Dragon muttered down at her lap. “I want to go to sleep.” 

“Alright,” Aegis agreed readily. He picked the blue plushie up off the floor and handed it back to Dragon before awkwardly sitting down on the floor by the foot of her bed.

“Thanks,” Dragon murmured. She lay back down, placing a hand on Draco when he curled up protectively on her chest. “Goodnight, Aegis.”

“Goodnight, Dragon.” 

Aegis briefly considered going downstairs to fetch his book, but quickly abandoned the notion. He didn’t want to risk not being there if Dragon woke up again, even if he would only be gone for less than a minute. So instead, he conjured a snowball and spent the next several hours mashing it into different shapes like it was powdery clay. It was actually more occupying than he’d expected; maybe he could take up sculpting as a hobby. 

He was trying to figure out how he could attach arms to the vaguely person-shaped blob he had constructed when he heard Dragon make an audible shuddering sound. A guilty feeling washed over him when he looked over and saw her shivering, even under her many layers of blankets. Draco had noticed and was trying to pull another one over her from the foot of the bed, which was proving to be a difficult task with no hands. Aegis stood up and came over to help, and Draco gave him a look of grudging gratitude. 

“I’ll, um… I’ll just sit a little farther away,” Aegis whispered, once Dragon was tucked under a few extra blankets. He knew his personal ambient chill was at fault here, but he still didn’t want to leave. Draco nodded and once again snuggled against Dragon’s chest. 

Aegis picked up his pathetic attempt at a sculpture and moved to the farthest corner of the room, feeling somewhat like a misbehaving schoolchild. Which was foolish; he was only trying to help, right? 

So why did he feel like he was doing something wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many things I want to put in these notes, and I'm going to do it even though no one will read them:  
> 1\. I'm intrigued by Aegis's ability to sense when the hero is in danger (as demonstrated in Calamity), but I have no idea how it works. Fortunately for me, this is my fanfic, so I can choose to make it work in whatever fashion serves my purposes, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me.  
> 2\. My dragon still bears the default name of Draco, since I had grown too attached by the time I had the ability to change it.  
> 3\. Baby dragons bark, right? I'm pretty sure that's happened at least once.  
> 4\. I'd bet having no body heat makes snow sculpting pretty fun. Probably. I wouldn't know, since my hands are flesh. 
> 
> I love you! See you next Friday with a new chapter!  
> (My face feels stiff now, which probably means that I should wash off this clay. Idk how facial masks work man, my sister got me one for Christmas and it perplexes me.)


	3. Where There's A Chill, There's A Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aegis tries to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I'M ALIVE and back with another chapter. I'm so sorry for the super late update. My sister said I should blame corona, but that would be lying. Forgive me.   
> Oh, by the way: If the yaga in Falconreach can have a stove, so can these guys. Fight me.   
> Warning for a brief, not-particularly-in-depth description of a panic attack.

Aegis knew something was wrong. Dragon could deny it all she liked—and she did, quite emphatically—but nothing she said would set his mind at ease. Not when she woke up with circles under her eyes every morning, or deflected every question about her emotional state with a joke. She was most definitely in distress, but Aegis couldn’t figure out what to do about it until he learned why. 

Except, he already _knew_ why, didn’t he? 

Well, not exactly. He didn’t know for certain. All he was really going on was intuition. That, and the time she’d snapped at him when he’d broken her fall with ice. And the way her expression shifted ever-so-slightly when he attacked a foe with elemental magic instead of his shield. And the _glaringly obvious_ matter of where she had been trapped for five years. 

…Okay, so maybe there was more evidence supporting the theory than he cared to admit, as much as he’d like to pretend it was something else. Dragon had a phobia of ice. That much was clear. But it begged the question: Why had she agreed to live _here?_ It wasn’t that Aegis wasn’t glad to have her as a roommate—he was ecstatic! He just… didn’t understand. Had he inadvertently pressured her into it? Had she just not thought it through? Was she pushing herself intentionally in an effort to desensitize herself? 

Actually… he could be onto something there. Dragon was definitely the kind to push her own limits, in life as well as in battle, even if it was something as pointless as eating an entire plateful of spicy peppers just to prove that she was capable of it. Maybe that’s what this was about. Maybe she was trying to prove to herself that she could handle this. 

Aegis knew that if that was the case, there would be no talking her out of it, if she would even agree to talk at all. Which, it seemed, she wouldn’t. But, he supposed, that might actually be for the best. Dragon knew herself better than anyone; if she thought it would help, it probably would. It was better than ignoring the problem altogether, at the very least. 

The only problem was, there didn’t seem to be much progress. Dragon clearly wasn’t sleeping well, even if she hadn’t had any nightmares since that first one three days ago—at least, none that Aegis had been able to sense. That alone was concerning. When combined with her occasional jumpiness, one could use it as an argument that things were actually getting _worse_.

So what was Aegis supposed to _do?_ It had already been thoroughly established that trying to discuss it would do absolutely nothing. He couldn’t just wait around and watch her decline, hoping that this was the kind of thing that would get worse before it got better. He had to do _something_.

That train of thought was cut off abruptly by Dragon’s voice greeting him as she stumbled groggily down the stairs. He looked up, squashing down that shameful feeling of hiding something (even though he wasn’t _really_ hiding anything from her, he reminded himself; he was well within his rights to worry in the privacy of his own mind). 

“Good morning,” Aegis said. “Did you sleep well?”

Dragon stifled a yawn. “Mm… yeah, it was good,” she mumbled. “You?”

She was too busy rubbing her eyes to see Aegis’s raised eyebrow, and it took her a good ten seconds to realize the flaw in what she’d said. “Wait… no. Sorry, ’m just…”

“Tired?” Aegis offered.

“Mhm.”

Wow, she really _was_ exhausted, if she was letting her guard down enough to admit it. “Do you want to go back to bed?” 

“ _No_ ,” she whined, dragging out the word for emphasis. “I’m hungry.” 

“I can make some eggs for you,” Aegis offered.

“No you can’t; you don’t know how,” Dragon pointed out. 

“Yes I do!” he insisted. It was a lie—he’d probably known at some point, but he’d forgotten. But he’d seen Dragon do it a couple of times since she’d come, and maybe it would come back to him once he started. 

Dragon stared at him, sleepy-eyed, for a moment before shrugging. “Okay. Thanks.” She shuffled after him into the kitchen and took a seat at the table, cheek resting on her fist as she struggled to keep her eyes open. 

Aegis quickly realized that he had no idea how to use the magic-powered stove. He was pretty sure these hadn’t even _existed_ while he was alive; he’d always just used the flame of the oven. Once he figured out how to turn it on, though, it was smooth sailing. Grease the pan, crack an egg, mix it around, add salt. Done. 

“Here you go,” he said, placing the plate in front of Dragon. She lifted her head (having since gone from propping it up on her hand to resting it on the table), thanked him, and took a bite. Her face contorted momentarily before she swallowed and schooled her features. 

“What’s wrong?” Aegis asked. 

“Nothing,” Dragon answered, far too quickly. 

“Did I do something wrong?” 

“No! I was just wondering… how much salt did you add?” 

Aegis shrugged. It was hard to guess precisely when he had been using a shaker, but… “About two tablespoons, I think? Maybe three.”

Dragon looked down at her plate. “Ah,” she said, and nothing more. 

“You don’t have to eat it.”

“Yes I do,” she said, then quickly added, “because breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this is too delicious not to eat. Thank you.” She started shoveling the food into her mouth to prove her point, cutting off any opportunity to argue. 

After a long, awkward pause, during which the only sound to be heard was the aggressive clink of silverware, Aegis asked, “What are you planning to do today?”

Dragon swallowed, almost managing not to cringe as the food went down. “I, uh… I actually haven’t got anything,” she admitted. “No one asked me for help, so… I thought I’d take the day off.” She said it as if it was something terribly shameful, and started inhaling her eggs again as if trying to put an end to the conversation.

“Good,” Aegis said without thinking, because if anyone needed a day off, it was Dragon. 

Dragon looked at him quizzically, mouth full of eggs. “Hm?” 

“Oh, well… it’s good, because…” Aegis frantically searched his mind for an explanation that wouldn’t offend her. Then, he was struck with an idea. “Because I was hoping we could spar.”

“Spar?”

“Yes!” Aegis said, nodding excitedly. Oh, this was _perfect_. How had he not thought of it before? “For training purposes!” 

Dragon considered this, and for a moment, Aegis worried that she was onto him. Then, she shrugged. “Sure, why not?” she agreed, before turning her attention back to stuffing her breakfast into her mouth. 

* * *

As much as he hated to admit it to himself, Aegis was starting to have second thoughts. He _might_ be pushing a few boundaries here. 

But if this worked—which it would!—Dragon would be so much happier! She’d be able to sleep at night, feel more comfortable around the house, maybe even open up a little! 

Still, he would have to be careful not to push her too far, too fast. And he couldn’t let her know his intentions. Not yet, anyway. If she knew he was trying to desensitize her to ice, she might reject his help with her continual denial of the problem. 

“This seem like a good spot to you?” Dragon asked, shaking him from his thoughts as they entered a clearing. 

Aegis looked around. There were trees framing the area, but sparse enough that nothing could sneak up on them (which probably wasn’t much of a concern anyway; these woods were heavily traversed and there were almost never reports of attacks around these parts). They were far enough from the trail that no one would get caught in the crossfire in the unlikely event of an attack going out of control. Excellent sparring conditions.

“It’s perfect,” Aegis agreed. 

“Great! Threetwoonego!” Dragon jabbed him with her spiritlooms and then bolted several meters away to ready another attack with a cocky grin.

“Hey!” Aegis protested. “That’s not fair!” He sent a volley of snowballs hurtling in her direction, hitting her a few times and making her more susceptible to his element. Then he launched a stunning attack, only for her to deflect it with the invisible shield he hadn’t noticed her summon. 

Well, two could play at that game, he thought. But before he was able to ready his own defenses, Dragon had him wrapped in glowing chains, leaving him immobilized and helpless in the face of her next assault: a pelting storm of phantom butterflies. 

Damage over time. Wonderful. 

She managed to get in two more hits after that before the chains faded and Aegis was able to move again. He’d already wasted precious seconds that he could have used taking advantage of her brief elemental disadvantage, so now was not the time for defense. He rushed to bash her with his shield, then ducked out of the way before she could stab him in retaliation—but that didn’t stop him from taking a hit from her prior damage-over-time attack. 

Growing discouraged, Aegis had to remind himself of the purpose of this match. He’d known from the beginning that he was unlikely to win; that wasn’t the point. The point was to give Dragon a little nudge outside of her comfort zone, and that was exactly what he was going to do. 

His next move was a split-second decision; one he probably wouldn’t have made were it not for the heat of battle clouding his judgement. If he’d taken time to consider, he might have chosen to be more cautious. But he hadn’t. So he didn’t. 

And he conjured a jagged wall of ice to surround Dragon on all sides. 

Immediately, he realized his mistake. He couldn’t see her through the barrier he’d created, but the wave of panic hit him like a blow to the chest. Not his own— _Dragon’s_. He quickly banished the ice, and though he was now fully aware of Dragon’s distress, he was wholly unprepared for the sight he was met with. 

Dragon’s arms were covering her head protectively, and she was shaking like a leaf. She looked up, face flushed and eyes glistening, when she realized that the ice was gone. 

“Dragon—”

“Don’t do that,” she snapped. The harsh effect was offset by the tremor in her voice. 

Aegis dropped his gaze to the ground. “I’m so sorry,” he said quietly, feeling very small. “I was trying to…”

“Trying to what?”

He couldn’t bring himself to admit it, and as it turned out, he didn’t have to.

“You did this on _purpose?_ ” Dragon said. The disbelief, the _betrayal_ in her voice made Aegis want to hide himself away in shame. 

“…I didn’t think it was this severe,” he confessed. “I wanted to help.”

Without looking, he could feel her face harden into a glare. “You wanted to _help_ ,” she repeated sharply. “By pushing me into having a panic attack?”

“No! I—”

“You couldn’t have at least _asked_ me first?!” she shouted. A few birds took off from nearby trees, startled by the sudden noise. Part of Aegis wished he could follow suit. “Didn’t you think that maybe there was a _reason_ I didn’t want to talk about it?!” 

The longer Aegis struggled to find words, the angrier Dragon’s expression got. He had to say something. “I’m so sorry,” he said again, knowing it was inadequate.

Dragon glared at him for just a moment longer, though Aegis felt like he was pinned under her gaze for an eternity. Finally, she looked away and started walking back to the main road. “Whatever,” she muttered. “Let’s just… get out of here.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, Aegis did a dumb. He forgot how eggs work. Also, he forgot how feelings work.  
> I don't know how to write sparring in a universe where fighting is turn-based. I did my best.   
> Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! And stay safe!


	4. Cold Shoulder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear commenters: THANK YOU SO MUCH! You've really motivated me to keep working on this fic. I owe you a great debt. Hopefully this chapter will suffice.
> 
> Now I'm going to be completely honest: I am not super happy with this chapter. Like, at all. I actually finished it about a week ago and then let it sit there for about a week because I Fear Rejection. 
> 
> Anyway, this quest includes multiple references to the "Just Chillin'" quest, so if you haven't played that, you'll probably be confused.  
> (By the way, I have recently learned that almost everyone struggled with the mushrooms in that quest. I was worried I'm just incompetent.)

Dragon got home late that night. Aegis was nowhere to be seen when she walked in, but that wasn’t unexpected. He had spent the last three days spouting excuses to get away. He needed to return a book to Riadne. Someone had asked for his help with an infestation of monstrous beetles. Yashta had invited him on a recreational outing and wouldn’t take no for an answer. (And even if Aegis hadn’t been stammering as he grasped at straws for that last one, Dragon wouldn’t have believed it for half a second.)

Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t blame him (for avoiding her, that was; regarding other matters, the jury was still out on where to place the blame). If she was being honest with herself, she’d been doing the same thing. She’d finished the quest she’d set out to do by mid-afternoon, but she didn’t head back until hours after the portal opened. She was only getting home so late because she’d opted to stay out and gather reagents to enhance her potions. 

But that didn’t mean anything. She had simply realized that she’d been slacking on her alchemy training and wanted to fix that. No big deal. 

She trudged up the stairs to her room after Draco, then flopped onto her bed, face-down. 

_You’re going to sleep?_

Dragon unburied her face from her pillow to look over at Draco. “It’s late,” she defended, too tired to bother with telepathic communication. It was pretty much second nature at this point, but sometimes she just preferred to speak out loud. 

_It’s half-past eight._

“What?” Dragon hadn’t bothered to look at a clock, but she could’ve sworn it had been longer than that. “The sun set hours ago.” 

_That’s how autumn works, Dragon,_ Draco said, their words tinged with exasperation and perhaps a bit of jesting patronization. 

“Rude,” Dragon huffed. “I’m tired, okay?” 

_You’re always tired._ There was a note of accusation there, and Dragon realized with a sinking feeling that they weren’t teasing her. They were genuinely worried. 

This could be a problem. 

“What can I say? I’m a busy woman,” she said flippantly. That’s right, just play it off. 

_Then it wouldn’t kill you to take a day off once in a while,_ Draco shot back. Okay, yeah, they were definitely aiming to call her out on something, and it didn’t seem like they were going to let her dance around it. 

“Draco…” she said carefully, “are you mad at me?”

 _I’m not mad at_ you; _I’m mad at_ him.

Oh. _That’s_ what this was all about. “Can we talk about this later? I want to go to bed.”

 _No!_ Had Draco actually been speaking aloud, they would’ve been shouting. _We are talking about this_ now! _I am not going to sit here while you pretend everything’s fine!_ _  
_

“Everything _is_ fine, Draco,” Dragon assured them. 

_Really? Because you two seem to be avoiding each other like the plague lately._

“This will all blow over soon.” She didn’t particularly want to give voice to the specific “this” she was referring to, unwilling to acknowledge the problem. Because there _wasn’t_ a problem. 

_Right,_ Draco said, sarcasm clear in every syllable. _He deliberately poked at your deepest fears and traumas, but I’m sure it will all just ‘blow over’ in a few days._

“I don’t have any traumas!” Dragon said, louder than she’d intended. “I don’t—I’m not like—” 

Not like… 

Not like someone who could remember every detail of a horrifying event in stark colors. Not like someone who carried an irrational fear of swimming for centuries after drowning. 

Not like Aegis. 

_Sure. Either way, he was out of line. We both know that. Whether or not he was trying to hurt you, he was being an idiot. I don’t care that he’s your SoulAlly; he needs to accept that he doesn’t understand everything you’re going through._

Dragon hesitated. “Maybe… maybe he _does_ , though.” 

Draco did not respond, and Dragon had the impression that they were trying to play therapist; get her to keep talking. As much as the thought irked her, this needed to be said.

“Did I tell you about the day he got a body?” 

_And he thought ice cream came from mines in the Northlands?_ Draco said, rolling their eyes. _Yeah, you did. You wouldn’t stop laughing about it for the rest of the week._

“No, I mean… the other thing.” Come to think of it, she _hadn’t_ mentioned it, not even to Draco. It wasn’t something she particularly enjoyed thinking about, and it really wasn’t her business to be discussing it with other people anyway. “When I suggested we go swimming.” 

Draco frowned. _I don’t think so._

“Well, I did. And he got a little…” She fished for the right word. “…uncomfortable? I’d kind of forgotten that he… you know, _drowned_.” 

_You forgot,_ Draco pointed out. _That’s different._ He _did it on purpose._

“I know, but… I think he understands more than we’re giving him credit for. And his heart’s certainly in the right place.” 

Draco’s frown deepened, but they seemed to be considering Dragon’s words. _I don’t want to turn you against him,_ they conceded finally. _I just want you to stop being dumb about this whole thing. Quit shoving down your emotions, for once in your life._

Dragon didn’t have it in her to feel indignant about that last part. Draco was right; she _was_ shoving down her emotions; so much that she wasn’t sure what those emotions _were._ Was she mad? Probably. Ashamed? Maybe. Embarrassed? As loath as she was to admit it, that was also a possibility. 

“You’re right,” she mumbled. 

_Sorry, what was that?_ Draco asked. Smug little jerk. 

“I said you’re right,” Dragon snapped, without any real bite. “I’m gonna talk to Aegis tomorrow. About my… _feelings_.” She dragged out the last word, grimacing at the thought. 

_You’ll feel better afterwards,_ Draco promised. _And if you don’t, I’ll know who I have to maul._

Dragon smirked, even though she knew it was a half-joke at best. “How are you so good at this?” she asked. “You’re a literal child.” 

_I’m an adult sometimes!_ Draco defended, affronted. 

“Yeah, _sometimes_. But you’re technically seven years old.”

Draco growled. _I take it all back. You’re awful. The worst. I hate you._

“Love you too, Draco.”

Despite the fact that she’d turned in early and allowed herself to sleep in late, Dragon had to drag herself out of bed when she awoke. This wasn’t _fair._ It wasn’t _her_ fault she didn’t have a sleep schedule to speak of. 

Draco, noticing she was awake, scampered over and barreled into her, nearly knocking her back onto her bed. _You’re finally up!_

“Everything sucks and I hate my life,” Dragon griped, rubbing her eyes. 

_Cool. I’m hungry._

Dragon groaned. “Okay, give me a minute,” she said. She trudged out of the room and down to the kitchen, where she was to see Aegis wiping the counter with a rag. 

Oh, right. She’d told Draco she’d talk to him, hadn’t she? 

Well then, no time like the present. 

“Hey,” she greeted, trying her best to sound casual. The involuntary yawn that followed was a blessing in that regard.

“Oh, um, hello,” Aegis said, with a very awkward, very forced smile. “It’s… it’s dusty in here. 

“Yeah, I guess it is. Thanks for taking care of that.” Aegis didn’t respond, so she kept going: “I didn’t see you last night. Where were you?”

“Oh, just… around. I was taking a walk. Around here.”

“Wow. Must have been a long walk.” 

“Yes… yes, it was,” Aegis agreed, growing more nervous by the second. “It was a nice night. Nice… weather.” 

Okay, Dragon couldn’t take this anymore. She sighed. “Aegis—”

“Metaphorical weather.” 

“ _Aegis._ ” 

He stopped. “Yes, Dragon?” It was clear from his tone that he was just as anxious about this conversation as she was. Whether that would make things easier or harder remained to be seen. 

Dragon took a deep breath. “Listen, I’m not mad at you.” 

As soon as she said that, she saw some of the tension ebb away from Aegis’s shoulders. At the same time, however, his brow creased with confusion. “You’re not?” 

“No. Well, not anymore,” Dragon conceded. “I mean, I _was_ mad. I was _really_ mad.” She paused, choosing her next words.

“Oh,” Aegis said blankly, filling the silence.

“Yeah. But…” Maybe she should’ve rehearsed this, or at least come in with a battle plan. Oh, well. “...I had some time to think, and I know you’re…” 

Aegis waited, eyes on the ground, rubbing his arms anxiously. Dragon was going to choke on the tension if she didn’t say something to break it _right now_. 

“You’re scared of swimming,” she blurted. 

Aegis’s head jerked up in surprise. For what was possibly the first time in days, he was making direct eye contact, and from the expression on his face, Dragon had accomplished quite the opposite of her goal. Before, he was nervous; now, he was downright panicked. This was clearly not how he’d expected this conversation to go—it wasn’t how _Dragon_ had expected it to go, either—and the blunt, abrupt statement had him thrown. 

This was not part of the plan (no matter how barely-conceived it may admittedly have been).

“So, I mean, you _get_ it,” she plowed on quickly. “You know what it’s like, and even though you don’t know exactly what it’s like for _me_ , you know how bad it is and you wanted to help because we’re in the same—or, not the _same_ boat, but similar boats, and they’re some pretty awful boats.” Aegis seemed to be relaxing bit by bit through Dragon’s spiel, so she kept talking. “We need to stop avoiding each other. It’s stupid. We’re both stupid. I guess I’m just trying to tell you that I’m sorry.” 

Aegis waited a moment to respond, possibly waiting for Dragon to continue, or perhaps just getting his thoughts in order. He looked relieved, but still anxious. “You don’t have to be sorry,” he said softly. 

“Well, I am, so tough luck.” 

“But… _I_ should be sorry; I was the one who—” 

Dragon groaned. “Aegis, we’re not _five._ The two things aren’t mutually exclusive. We can _both_ be sorry. Seriously, you’re a million years old; shouldn’t you be incredibly wise about this sort of thing or something?” 

“I believe we’ve already established that I am most certainly _not_ ‘wise about this sort of thing,’” Aegis said, the beginnings of a smile touching his lips. _Finally._ “But… thank you, for saying that. I really am sorry.” 

“Apology accepted,” Dragon said simply, and she was mildly surprised by how much she meant it. It was… _easier_ than she’d expected. 

This next part, not so much. “One more thing,” she said, trying to keep her tone light, “I was wondering if…”

Her pause lasted much too long for either of their likings. “Yes?” Aegis prompted.

“I was wonderingifyouwantedtosparagain.” Dragon let the sentence tumble out of her mouth, getting faster with each word, before she could lose her nerve. 

Aegis stared at her. “What?”

“Um…” She could do this. She straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “I was wondering,” she said, forcing herself to speak slowly and deliberately, “if you wanted to spar. Again.” 

“No, I heard you the first time,” Aegis clarified. “But… you don’t have to do that.”

“No, I think you were right,” Dragon insisted. “It might help me get better about…” She waved her hand vaguely. “...everything. Besides,” she added, “it could be fun! Just, maybe hold off on the ice walls for now. Stick to snowballs and shield bashing.”

Aegis still looked a little hesitant, but a tentative smile was working its way up his face. “You’re certain?”

“Sure, why not?” 

“Alright,” Aegis said. “I’m proud of you.” 

The pure genuinity of that momentarily threw Dragon for a loop, but then she grinned back. “Thanks.” 

Quiet fell over them. 

“Um… What now?” Aegis asked, breaking the silence.

Dragon shrugged. “Apology hug?” 

“Apology hug,” Aegis agreed. 

Dragon vaulted over the kitchen table and tackled Aegis, who let out and “oof” of surprise when they collided. Then he laughed, a sound which perfectly reflected the hodgepodge of joy and relief that was filling Dragon.

Their laughter was interrupted by something soaring into the room and crashing into Dragon’s back. She turned around to find Draco glaring at her. _What’s taking so long?_ they complained. _Where’s my dragon chow?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for bearing with me! The next chapter is going to fluffy bonding with Draco. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are my lifeblood.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you're enjoying this! Please don't hesitate to point out any typos or errors you notice.


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